TechCrunch covers Allvoices’ Growth

More than 6.5 million people a month now getting news and information from Allvoices.

Doesn’t that sound great?  Sure does!

In June we surpassed 6.5 million unique visitors a month, making Allvoices (depending on the measuring service you use) the largest citizen journalism hub in the world; even bigger than CNN’s iReport which has a huge media partner to help it along.  You can read the TechCrunch coverage here.

It’s important to remember the only help we’ve had getting to this point has been from our users–people hungry for alternative sources of news that isn’t stripped down or sanitized.  People who are tired of not getting hyper-local or international news from mainstream sources because those sources have cut their ability to report down to the bone.  People who have grown to expect immediate information delivered with hard-hitting, first-person perspectives.  And people who want to share their perspectives and experiences with the world.

We’re just two years old, but we’re in the right place at the right time for the news industry.  Follow us or participate on the site.  It’s easy to do both.

A release on our traffic and some of the innovations we’ve brought to citizen journalism is below.

Thanks for all your support!

@allvoices_staff

Six Million People a Month Get their News from Citizen Journalists on Allvoices

Innovation, interest in first-hand accounts from citizen reporters spikes activity on the web’s only global news hub

San Francisco, CA — July 2, 2010 – Allvoices.com, the largest open media site in the world, today announced that more than six million unique monthly visitors now get their news and information from citizen journalists reporting on its platform.  Allvoices is the only media site where anyone can report unfiltered news and other timely information from anywhere, anytime for immediate consumption by a global audience.  Contributor and reader growth is in direct proportion to, and an affirmation of citizen journalism’s popularity, the ease of which anyone can publish reports on Allvoices, and the site’s ability to verify report credibility—an industry first and a necessity in citizen journalism.

Founded just two years ago, Allvoices has quickly become the web’s leading resource for first-hand event accounts from hyper-local to global locales.  A unique combination of technology, automated aggregation and community content curation provides a 360 degree view of every report. Fully realized “news packages” can start with as little as a text message.  Once received and vetted, Allvoices Automated News Room surrounds incoming reports with related information from other mainstream and user-generated sources such as blogs, video, pictures and Twitter to produce a richly detailed accounting from multiple, immediate perspectives.

Over the past year Allvoices’ rapid technological innovation has raised bar for citizen journalist.  The site is responsible for introducing a number of other firsts which have contributed to the site’s popularity as a destination-location for news you can’t find within mainstream sources.  Concurrently, interest in specific world events such as the Iranian elections, the World Cup, the Olympics and other political, cultural, socio-economic and human interest stories has also contributed to Allvoices’ rapid user acquisition.

“Allvoices was born into a media climate where we were the ‘right idea at the right time,’” said Amra Tareen, founder and CEO, Allvoices.  “Citizen Journalism is finally coming into its own; there are simply too many information sources now for the mainstream media to keep up with news consumers’ growing expectations of immediacy, unfiltered and unedited content, first hand perspective, the ability to share and manipulate information or become an information source themselves.  Allvoices’ rising popularity affirms our belief that news is not defined by a finite number of publishers, but by anyone, anywhere with the means to capture an event and explain its significance.”

Advancements in citizen journalism coming out of Allvoices this year include:

• The Global Assignment Desk – where both professional and citizen journalists provide regular in-country reports from 30 major cities around the world.
• The appointment of David Warthen, Ask Jeeves (Ask.com) co-founder and Internet visionary as Allvoices’ Chief Technology Officer
  • Warthen revolutionized online search and marketing while at Ask Jeeves and helped lead the company through its initial public offering (IPO) in 1999.
  • The most lucrative incentive plan in the citizen journalism industry, including health care for citizen reporters
  • The Allvoices Syndication Program where:
    • Allvoices offers world wide exposure to media and image buyers.
    • Allvoices licences submitted images
    • Allvoices international platform showcases contributor images and increases the chances of selling images
    • Innovative reporting assignments such as the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa News Reporting Contest, and
    • The Allvoices/Nokia Africa Reporting Contest, which is designed to help expose the world to more compelling stories coming out of this vitally important continent as it asserts its importance on the world stage.

“We’ve worked very hard to get to this point, and the reception we’ve received from both the mainstream media and proponents of citizen journalism alike has been tremendous,” said Aki Hashmi, Chief Marketing Officer, Allvoices.  “There is broad recognition of the importance of the citizen reporter’s perspective on world events, and before our inception there were few places for that unique, first hand voice.  Our goal is to make sure we maintain a strong platform where journalists of all types can publish and promote their work.  The numbers we’re announcing today agree with and affirm our intent of providing the best vehicle for anyone who wants to expose news to the world.”

About Allvoices, Inc.

Allvoices.com is the largest global community offering local to global news and perspectives in one place. With its proprietary technology, Allvoices provides a 360⁰ view of news by enabling citizen reporting from its community and international news bureaus that is automatically surrounded by additional sources of content including mainstream news feeds and blogs, social media feeds (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube), images and videos which provides context, insight and diversity of opinions around a broad range topics and issues on the global, national and local levels. Allvoices utilizes professional online news stories and media to determine relevancy and credibility with each contribution made to the site. Its highly automated system blends the latest advances in natural language processing and machine learning with a vibrant, diverse and engaged community so anyone can easily publish relevant, trustworthy news for a global audience. The resulting connection and dialogue between contributors and readers makes Allvoices the destination for breaking news, hyperlocal topics and popular global interest stories (www.allvoices.com).

Contact:

press@allvoices.com

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